Process of manufacturing multiple glazed units



1943- E. J. BALLINTINE ET AL 2,335,376

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING MULTIPLE GLAZED UNITS Filed Feb. 27, 1941 W maws/i Patented Nov. 30, 1943 PROCESS MANUFACTURING MULTIPLE GLAZED UNITS Elmer J. Ballintine and Frank T. Painter, Tarentum, Pa., assignors to Pittsburgh Plate I Glass Company, a corporation of Pennsylvania Application February 27, 1941, SerialNo. 380,760

2 Claims.

The present invention relates to insulating structures and more particularly to a process of manufacturing multiple glazed units.

One object of the invention is to provide a process in which hermetically sealed multiple glazed units are readily obtained.

A second object of the invention is to provide a process wherein a metallic seal of high mechan-' ical strength is developed fora multiple glazed unit.

Other objects and advantages of our invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of certain preferred embodiments thereof.

Multiple glazing units are becoming of increasing importance to the building industry, especlally since air-conditioning has been so widely adopted. The insulation value 01' these multiple glazed units results from their enclosed airv spaces. It will at oncebeapparent that the units should be hermetically sealed to prevent infiltration of moisture or foreign matter into the units.

We are aware that various means of sealing multiple glazed units have been advanced heretofore. A vitreous seal is disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 2,032,003, issued February 25, 1936, to

R. L. Clause, and a metal seal is the subject matter'of U. 8. Patent No. 2,198,578, issued April 23, 1940, to B. F. Hazelton. It is believed, however,

that a more permanent union between spaced glass plates can be obtained in a more facile manner. Briefly stated, the present invention contemplates the application to the glass plates relation with the glazed portions to the outside and held apart by a spacer ll of resilient mate rial, such as rubber, synthetic resin, etc. A strip I! of metal substantially of U,-shape in crosssection is fitted over the edges of the glass plates and secured to the glazed portions thereof.

The electrical conducting glaze which coats the margins of the glass plates comprises fine particles of. silver, colloidal silver, admixed with lead borate, a boro silicate, or other fusible glaze in a ratio of from 2 parts metal to 1 part of glaze to 8 parts of metal to 1 part of glaze. This ratio may be varied as desired within these limits, it being necessary only to maintain sufiicient metal in the mixture that it remains electrical conducting. The mixture may be. combined with a suitable vehicle, such as turpentine, oil of violet, linseed oil, and a binder of brown sugar, molasses or the like, to facilitate application to the glass plates and subsequent handling. Gold or platinum may be substituted for the sliver of the glaze, although the cost factor will generally preclude this substitution. Nickel is another example of a metal which may be included in the glaze coating.

The'glazing mixture is applied to the margins of glass plates in a uniform coating and the plates are heated to fuse the glaze and bond or weld the coating to the glass. This operation may be carried out in a continuous process by of a metallic glaze to which the vapor barrier or other sealing means is secured,

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of a multiple glazed unit embodying the principles of our invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view thereof; and I Figure 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of another form of the invention.

. Referringto the drawing, a multiple glazed unit comprises glass plates 3, having marginal coatings 5 of an electrical conducting glaze fused thereon, arranged in parallel relation with the glazed portions in register and held apart by a spacer I which is secured to the glazed portions.

Another form of the invention is illustrated in Figure 3 wherein a multiple glazed unit I I comprises a plurality of glass plates l2, having mar-'- ginal coatings H of an electrical conducting glaze fused thereon and covered with films ii of electrolytically deposited copper, arranged in parallel passing the sheets through a kiln which is heated to give a gradually increasing temperature to fuse the glaze in the forepart and cooled gradually thereafter to reduce the temperature of the plates to normal.

In assemblingthe unit, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, the glazed portions of the plates are tinned and, given a thin coating of ordinary or silver solder. The spacer 1, which is of metal,

40 is likewise tinned and coated with solder. The

spacer and the glaze, thus glazed plates are arranged in. parallel relation with the glazed portions in register and with the spacer therebetween. On heating the assembly, the solder melts and creates a bond between the sealing the edges of the a unit.

In the form of our invention, shown in Figure 3, the plates, after the glaze has been fused thereon, are submerged in a copper sulfate solution and a film of copper is deposited electrolytically over the glaze. The metal content of the glaze permits this operation without. difliculty.

The coated glaze is tinned and covered with solder as before.

The plates are assembled in parallel relation with the glazed portions exposed and held apart by a spacer of rubber or other resilient material. A channel strip of metal substantially of U-shape in cross-section is fitted over the edges of the assembly and sumcient heat is applied thereto to melt the solder and thus seal the metal strip to the copper plated glaze.

Due to the fact that solder is employed to create the bond and seal of the unit, negligible pressure changes are experienced in the air space between the glass plates. Accordingly a. complete edge seal may be provided in the first instance which will not rupture on cooling.

It will at once be obvious that various modifications in the several elements of our construction and their combination are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

.1. A process of manufacturing a multiple glazed unit which comprises coating marginal portions of glass plates with an admixture of metal and vitreous material thereby forming electrical conducting films on said plates, heating the plates and films sufliciently to fuse the plates and films together, electrolytically depositing a layer of copper on said films, assembling the plates in parallel spaced relation, and securing a vapor barrier to the copper layers to seal in the space between the plates.

2. A process of manufacturing a multiple glazed unit which comprises coating marginal portions of glass plates with colloidal metal admixed with a fusible vitreous material thereby forming a fusible glaze on the glass, fusing the glaze and glass together, assembling the glass plates in spaced parallel'relation, and soldering a metal vapor.- barrier to the glaze to seal in the space between the plates.

Elm/1E3 J. BALLINTINE. FRANK F. PAINTER. 

